ITINERARY: realistic? too much? any help appreciated.

bradm

We have a total of 6 weeks (42 d) in India and Nepal. Current plan is as follows:

3 OCT: Arrive in Delhi
4 OCT: Fly from Delhi to Kathmandu
5 OCT to 17 OCT: Trek in Nepal
18 OCT: Fly from Kathmandu to Delhi & overnight train from Delhi to Jodhpur
19 OCT: Jodhpur
20 OCT: Jodhpur
21 OCT: Train from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer
22 OCT: Jaisalmer
23 OCT: Jaisalmer
24 OCT: Train from Jaisalmer to Udaipur
25 OCT: Udaipur
26 OCT: Udaipur
27 OCT: Train from Udaipur to Pushkar (Camel Fair)
28 OCT: Train from Pushkar to Delhi to Rohtak (friend's wedding)
29 OCT: Rohtak
30 OCT: Rohtak
31 OCT: Train from Rohtak to Jaipur
1 NOV: Jaipur
2 NOV: Train from Jaipur to Varanasi (via Agra)
3 NOV: Varanasi
4 NOV: Varanasi
5 NOV: Fly from Varanasi to Mumbai
6 NOV: Mumbai
7 NOV: Mumbai
8 NOV: Fly from Mumbai to Cochin/Kochi
9 NOV to 13 NOV: Kerala (a day or two in Alleppy and then some beaches further south around Trivandrum).
14 NOV: Fly Trivandrum to Chennai and depart India.

Are we mad? Is it do-able? Any suggestions for more/less time in any place?

I am also interested to hear which Kerala beaches you guys would recommend. We would like a less touristy & out of the way option if possible.

Thanks,

Brad

Hal

Looks do-able, but a bit rushed in spots. Why not stay a day in Delhi to get acclimated and see that city?

I'd suggest dropping Jaipur and going straight to Varanasi from Rohtak so you have more time there. If you've already seen 3 cities in Rajasthan, then Jaipur may be more of the same, and it's a huge city.

camelgirl

It looks pretty good. You have enough time to do your itinerary. If your Nepal trek doesn't take up your whole visit there, you should take some time to see more of the Kathmandu Valley. There are many interesting towns.

You may want to rearrange some of the beginning but maybe you can't because you want to do the Camel Fair & have a wedding to go to.

It would be more logical to go from Delhi to Jaipur to Jodhpur to Jaisalmer because you get to Jaipur first and you are also going to be spending a couple of days on the train if you go directly Delhi to Jodhpur. Kind of exhausting.

Also, & I could be wrong not being a train expert, I believe you have to go back to Jodhpur from Jaisalmer to get a train to Udaipur. Can't go directly from Jaisalmer.

I also think you can't go directly from Udaipur to Pushkar. You likely have to get back to Jodhpur then go to Ajmer (nearest rail link).

You should get, if you don't already have, a good guidebook (Rough Guide, Footprints, Lonely Planet) to plan out the route. They give you the way to get from place to place so you are not constantly wasting time.

Also, you should get reservations for staying somewhere for the Pushkar Camel Fair because it's a very small town & it fills up fast. Prices also skyrocket for any kind of accomodation, including budget, so be prepared.

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machadinha

Camelgirl, not to criticize you but I've noticed you give out this advice more often.

No, there is in fact (and has been for a long time) a very well-timed night train from Delhi to Jaisalmer, runs all week, leaves Old Delhi railway station at 17:40, arrives J'mer next morning at 11:00. Total running time (barring any delays) 17.5 hours.

Stops (among many, and apart from various other Delhi stations) include Alwar, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Marwar, Osiyan, and Pokran.

Interestingly, it runs pretty much the same times the other way around.

See http://erail.in?T=NDLS:New_Delhi:JSM: Jaisalmer .

(Edit: Delhi-Jodhpur gives even more options of course, at roughly the same -- so in this case less, some 11 hours -- time taken.)

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camelgirl

I'll stop giving that advice as it's obviously wrong.

It's based on my personal experience and apparently isn't good information currently. It actually took us an overnight train Delhi to Jodhpur & another day to get to Jaisalmer. 2 days total. Just remember being exhausted & being glad we had a few days once we got to Jaisalmer.

I guess I'm mostly responding to people who allow very little time for anyplace on their itinerary and don't realize it does take time to get from place to place.

Indizen

There is no train from JSM to UDZ.
If you actually want to travel by train on this section you need to change trains:
1.Jaisalmer (JSM) to Jodhpur Jn. (JU)
2.Jodhpur Jn. (JU) to Marwar Jn. (MJ)
3.Marwar Jn. (MJ) to Mavli Jn (MVJ)
4.Mavli Jn (MVJ) to Udaipur City (UDZ)
Not practical at all.
So, Jodhpur to Udaipur by car, stopping at the Fort at Kumbalgarh and the Jain temples at Ranakpur.
If you cannot afford the cab, then take a bus and see if you can still make those stops.

vonkla

I agree with Hal.

I suggest to take a train from Rohtak to Agra and from there another one to Varanasi.

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machadinha

On that, we can certainly fully agree

(I might have added that 17 hours to J'mer doesn't mean it can be added as a daytrip. I'd say getting there from pretty much anywhere, three days would be a bare minimum to do the place any sort of justice -- let alone if one wants to go on some desert safari of any description.)

It's true btw, if one doesn't catch that night train for some reason, I imagine the ride would be rather more involved. I think I came by way of Jodhpur by bus from Pushkar, which must have taken pretty much a full afternoon/half day. Then (some days later) on to Jaisalmer by night train. Going out, I went by bus via Barmer to Ahmedabad, then by train on to Mumbai, somewhat amazingly in less than 24 hours altogether. Quite some ride though. This may or may not open up options to get to Udaipur from J'mer, but I can't say; that bus may likely have went more southernly by way of Gujarat. It's some time ago.

namaste_cat

Do you really need that much time for the wedding? If so, never mind. Otherwise, I'd cut Rohtak wayyyyy back. No offense to anyone from that town :ducks:

Indizen

Refer: 31 Oct
The train from Rohtak to Jaipur is in the middle of the night, 3 days a week.
2984 CDG JP G RATH ROK 01.15 JP 7.40